Goblin Slayer – Episode One (Review)

A new, young priestess joins a group of adventurers on a quest. They have hopes to slay monsters and increase their ranking under the assumption that they can take on rescuing girls kidnapped by goblins. Before long, these naive rookies are ensnared into a trap set by the goblins and their lack of knowing how the darkness of the cave works to their disadvantage. The priestess is the only one left alive as her teammates are either murdered or raped before the merciless Goblin Slayer shows up. Having read the first two volumes of the manga I knew what to expect and yet this episode still left me uneasy. The animation is beautiful and so is the soundtrack and everything else is lined up to be one hell of a treat for fans of Berserk and Ubel Blatt.

The only real downside concerns the story itself as it carries so many overused character archetypes like an overpowered dude followed by a damsel in distress and plot situations that it almost lacks appeal to watch. The rape scene, (which admittedly is far worse in the manga), is so intense and disturbing that it could turn away potential fans but if I know nothing else about anime fanboys, most of them couldn’t care less about the depictions of women in anime. Goblin Slayer is beautifully animated, has an engaging soundtrack, holds up to its TV-MA rating, but has similar tones to other anime/manga titles which makes it hard to genuinely like. I’m still on board to figure out what happens next for the young priestess.

1 comment on “Goblin Slayer – Episode One (Review)”

There are definitely more than a few people who have been turned away by that scene in the first episode. For me it was less horrific than I’d thought it was going to be having read the light novel so while it is still a confronting watch it wasn’t a surprise and I really like the story so I’m sticking with this one.